Rain
by emygrl99
Summary: Ace never liked the rain much, at least not until he met Luffy.


**Hey, I wrote a thing! I have other one shots on the way and I'm writing a LawLu colab with my friend LeafyxThiefy too, it's on her profile, you should go check it out! Anyways, I hope you enjoy (:**

 **Beta'd by LeafyxThiefy**

Ace had never liked the rain much. It was noisy and all it did was get you wet and sick. Ace couldn't count on both hands how many times he'd had to cancel plans with his friends because of rain. Rain reminded him of the darker times in his life, when he'd never had much hope for the future. It reminded him of all the tears he had shed, all of the times he's felt worthless and sure that everybody would be better off without him. The dark clouds made him feel claustrophobic, like they were pressing in on him, trapping him. Thunder and lightning reminded him of that night, filled with shouting and crashes as furniture and insults were thrown across the room. It reminded him of the deep, endless cold that had soaked into his bones as he stormed out into the downpour, throwing one last rude gesture over his shoulder as he walked away. Rain reminded Ace of all the things he'd rather forget.

Ace had never liked the rain, at least not until he met Luffy. The boy had come crashing into his life with big smiles and loud laughs, and at first Ace had been repulsed. He found Luffy too happy, far too happy. With some help and a lot of time, Ace warmed up to him though, began to appreciate his sense of humor and his endless appetite. He found himself going to Luffy more and more often when he was upset or when he needed advice, and those were the only times when Luffy wouldn't laugh or crack a joke at anything and everything. Luffy was a fun, happy-go-lucky person, but he was also honest, and good at keeping secrets that he knew were important.

One day when the two of them were watching movies at Ace's house, Luffy had thought it would be fun to go outside in the storm and upon his return, Ace had halfheartedly reprimanded the teen for going out in the cold rain; he would get sick for sure. Luffy looked so thrilled though, so at peace that Ace couldn't bring himself to really get mad. Luffy only laughed lightly at Ace's concern and shrugged. "I like the rain."

Ace shook his head with disdain to the statement, and Luffy looked at him with wide eyes.

"Wait, do you not like the rain?"

Ace blushed slightly, not sure how to answer. "No, it's not that- I just- the rain has bad memories for me," he settled, not wanting to delve into the past that he'd rather just forget.

"But how can you not like the rain?"

Ace felt himself blushing a little, immediately turning defensive. "I just don't. It's cold and wet and loud and always gets in the way."

"Well I guess you can think of it like that," Luffy said, turning his head away from Ace towards the window, hiding his face. They both watched in silence the fat drops as they pummeled the panes of glass, making quiet _clink, clink, clink_ sounds. "I've always found rain refreshing. Standing out in a storm always makes me feel like my worries are being washed away, reminds me that I'm alive and as long as I keep going, everything will turn out okay, that eventually, I'll be okay. In the rain, I can drop the pretense that I'm happy and nothing's wrong with my life. I can cry and scream and shout and when I'm done, the rain simply rinses it away. I've always felt more alive in the rain than anywhere else."

Ace was speechless, surprised that the teen felt so strongly about it. Luffy didn't seem like the kind of guy to put much thought into what he was doing, so this was unexpected for Ace. "I.. I've never thought of it that way," he said, suddenly feeling very small. Luffy didn't reply, only gave him a small smile. A smile that said 'I understand, I know how you feel, it'll be okay,' and Ace found a certain comfort in it, one that he couldn't describe even if he tried.

Only a week later, Luffy moved away, and Ace never saw him again. He found himself missing the teen at odd times, when he was making pancakes, as he filled out paperwork, when he was falling asleep at night. It wasn't until Luffy left that Ace realized how much he had come to mean to him. The teen had started pushing aside the dark clouds surrounding Ace, allowing him to see the see and feel sunlight on his skin for the first time in a long while. Now that he was gone, Ace could feel them threatening to come back, hovering in the back of his mind, but now that Ace had seen the sun, he didn't want to go back to the clouds.

On a particularly gloomy day, Ace was sat in the living room during a storm, half-watching some show on Netflix. A sudden wave of _Idon'twanttobealoneanymoreIjustwanttobohappyI'mwastingmylifewheredidIgowrong_ slammed into him, and Ace could feel despair looming over him, dark and heavy, threatening to crush him.

With a choked sob, he threw open his door and ran outside, needing to be somewhere else- anywhere but home. The wind and rain blew into his face, blinding him, but Ace didn't care. He paused in his directionless running as Luffy's words suddenly echoed through his mind. _I can cry and scream and shout and when I'm done, the rain simply washes it away._ All of the memories he shared with Luffy came to mind, and Ace sat down hard in the dirt, the fight running out of him. With his face tipped to the sky, Ace let the storm batter him. He let himself cry and scream and shout, he let himself drop the mask he'd been wearing since the day he was born, and when he was done, he let it all wash away, never to be seen again.

After what felt like both many years and a mere few seconds, the storm settled to a soft drizzle, and Ace opened his eyes. He felt raw, like he had been stripped naked, exposed for everybody to see. But at the same time, a sense of peace had settled over him, so deep and so right that a smile came to his face, and he finally understood why Luffy liked the rain so much. Because in a world full of responsibilities and expectations, the rain had to power set him free, even if just for a little while.


End file.
